So, my governor just came out of the closet, he admitted to cheating on his wife with a man, and he’s resigning effective November 15. I’m a New Jersey state employee, and a bunch of us started hearing the rumors around 3:00. Our office was all abuzz and we watched the speech on TV at around 4:30.
“My truth is that I am a gay American,” he said. (And great headline there — “N.J. governor is outta closet, and job.”)
(Here’s the speech text.)
As a gay man in New Jersey, I can tell you that there have long been rumors about McGreevey’s orientation, since well before he was governor, and I’d heard rumors about the relationship as well. The other man’s name is Golan Cipel, he’s an Israeli citizen, he’s a McGreevey aide, and among other things, McGreevey unsuccessfully tried to get a him a position with the state Homeland Security agency. I think the relationship started before he became an aide of the governor, though.
Some points:
1) Why resign? There seems to be more going on here under the surface — probably some not-very-good details. One rumor is that there was blackmail involved.
2) We’re not sure why his resignation isn’t effective until November. We think it’s because if he resigns before then, there’s a special gubernatorial election (ordinarily it wouldn’t happen until November 2005), but if he waits, the leader of the State Senate, a fellow Democrat, Richard Codey, will get to take over the position.
3) I really liked the governor’s speech. It was incredibly personal, and he talked about feeling different ever since he was a kid, and so on. He said that he was resigning because of the affair itself, but I wish he’d been more explicit that it was not because of being gay per se. At any rate, after all the rumors, it was so strange — and so nice — to hear him actually come out.
There are updates at this New Jersey weblog.
There’s an article posted on The Advocate.
ABC News says Cipel “is filing a sexual misconduct lawsuit against the governor in a New Jersey court this afternoon.”
More blog reaction (and blog links) at Boi From Troy.
Choire at Gawker: “We don’t care about anything else today. All over Manhattan, the boys are busy fantasizing that they’re Jim McGreevey’s gay fucktoy.” and “finally, someone from Jersey that I’d totally do.”
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My concern in this is the use of the phrase “a gay American” – was he in denial about being American before? Or does he feel the need to cling on to something, some other identity. Is he saying he’s gay but still American? Or am I reading too much in to this?
I think the phrase “gay American” has a positive, assertive ring to it.
It is a description of who he is, rather than who he sleeps with.
Or maybe I’m reading too much into it…
Dunno. I’m in Ireland, and I guess it has a different ring to it.
>It is a description of who he is, rather than who he sleeps with.
Yeah, because he’s proved that he can’t be “just gay” and happy.
I’m with Alan. The phrase “I’m a gay American” leaves a dissonant ring in my ears.
The phrase “Gay American” asserts the homosexual’s place at the table in our society, much like the terms African American, Native American, or Deaf American. Unlike many other nations, whose population is relatively homogenous, Americans are more of a synthesis of many different flavors. That we co-exist amongst so many different types prods the individual to find some nitch to which they might belong. Given our wide disparity of types and ilks, asserting that you are one element (e.g., gay) *and* American, is taking a stand, asserting your rightful place among the host of subcultures. We’re a nation of many different types of individuals struggeling to belong.
Gay American is a term which asserts that we belong just as much as other minorities to this society, and that we are an distinct cultural entity that is presently struggeling to be accepted.
In an era where those that do not believe in the notion of a Gay American, imparticular to the others mentioned, he siezed the right moment, IMO, to do our subculture some good. He used his personal misfortune and indiscretions to help better the world.
And bettering the world/society is what politics is about. He lived up to his calling, and maybe this incident will get his life back on a truth-centric track.
.rob adams
Amen, Rob.
Ditto.
I THINK THAT GOV. MCGREEVY HAS HIS RIGHT TO KEEP HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATION TO HIMSELF AND NOT TO OTHERS IF HE CONFESSED THATS HIS PROBLEM…BEING GAY HAS NUTHIN TO DO WITH US OR THE CITIZENS EVERYONE HAS THERE OWN DECISION AS AN AMERICAN THANK U,…BY THE WAY MY NAME IS DARLENE AND I’M 15 YEARS OLD
Darlene, the closet is OVER.
Deal with it.
nyhow who asks “Why can’ queers jus keep their sexual orientation to themselves while in public?”
-“I do not need no fag checking out my package while shopping in the mall.” (and you don’t check out women’s asses, legs, and tits, indiscriminately be they lesbians and straight, while shopping in the local mall. Sure you don’t you epitome of Christ-like-living. Ack.
-“Why do fags have to flount their sexuality while in public?” How many straigjt couples hold hands in Wichita Moivie theaters come th 1100pm how. Or, how many coats are draped over slouched down couples. By the way, how many fags would get away with such behavior, never mind Wichita, but Phoenix.
-Straight couples touch flesh to flesh via hands while walking, or a comforting pat on the back while on the metro. Imagine if George and Gregory did the same. Glares pierce.
Keeping your innate, learned different to yourself, secretly, perpetuates the isolation. Isolation manifaests itself into arrested developmened and subsequent plethoras of pathologies in the adult (G-d forbid married).
rob@egoz.org